Yet another good article from the Dallas Penn crew...
"ViaCom is the top dog of cultural hustlers on the planet today. They use their multiple platforms to program adults, and more importantly, the youth into what the cultural norms for the future shall be. Hip-Hop music is one of their key tools. It is loved by working class kids from the center city all the way into the middle class enclaves in the suburbs and the exurbs. This is where ViaCom penetrates the deepest because there isn’t the presence of the ‘other’ to refute the images presented on the television screen.
Their cultural programming is just as effective in the center city because there is visual access to markers of wealth and opulence. The sight of a Bentley sportscar outside of a television set confirms its existence within the world described on television.
I thought that I would be upset with the network chiefs at ViaCom for allowing the program called ‘The Shop’ to air on M.T.V. instead of the sister station B.E.T. but after previewing trailers from the program I realize that the target demographic for this program are the kids in the suburbs and the exurbs. This program is supposed to be their indoctrination into the actual lives of people from the center city. I thought of this program as some sort of corporate media attempt at Black People 101.
What are the jigs saying? What are the jigs wearing? Why does that woman have a child and not a husband?!? Everything I wanted to know about Negroes but I was afraid to ask them because I was afraid. M.T.V. has struck suburban gold platinum again and I suspect that I will be seeing kids at the mall this spring with aluminum foil covering their teeth."
http://dallaspenn.com/weblog/?p=496
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